Now Maitland, now's your time!

"Fire!"

Maitland's guard stood up along the ridge late in the afternoon, fired a volley and send the French Middle Guard Chasseurs back down in disarray. They were based next to Hougoumont on the western flank of the Allied lines.

The other brigade, Byng's, fought defending Hougoumont  in Waterloo and in the Bossu Wood at Quatre Bras. Some of the heaviest fighting in both battles.

These were some of the biggest units at Waterloo, certainly some of the better quality on the Allied side.

4 Guard Battalions on the ridge

David Young from the UK painted for me these British Guard's Brigades - 4 battalions 48 figures strong.  He did a great job, especially considering these are only 10mm. Figures are Redline.

I just need to get some light companies together to complete the 1st British Division.

Major General Byng

Major General Maitland and his Brigade

Reille's II Corp

Reille's II Corps

Comte Honore Charles Reille commanded the II Army Corps of the Armee De Nord. The Corps numbered some 20,000 men in three Divisions of infantry (5th, 6th and 7th) and one Division of Light Cavalry (2nd) and a small reserve of artillery. They were the main force at Quatre Bras under Marshall Ney, and took the West flank at Waterloo. There they were sucked into the unsuccessful assault on Hougoumont for most of the day.

Prince Jerome Bonaparte's 6th Division was the largest with 7900 men, just under 400 figures. I have 12 x 36 figure battalions which make it over strength.

The effort by David Young in painting close to 500 French Line and Light made it possible to finish off this Corps. The whole of the 6th Division's infantry are David's work. In total there is more than 1000 infantry, 96 Cavalry, 20 guns with limbers etc.

Looking at the pictures, I have missed out one Foot Artillery battery from Bachelu's Division, which I have in the drawer. I also am short on leaders for the Corps, some ADC's have graciously stepped in while the leaders are found. Aside from these small omissions it is done.

I just need to finish off some Guard Chasseurs a Cheval and Lancers and the French OOB for Quatre Bras is complete. Oh and a Ney figure.

Pire's 2nd Cavalry Division

Bachelu's 5th Infantry Division

Prince Jerome's 6th Infantry Division

Foy's 9th Infantry Division

The Emperor briefing Reille on taking Quatre Bras

Reinforcements arrive from England

898 10mm figures in Perry boxes

The latest troops are just off the boat from England ready for battle. A bit disorganised they need to assemble into units and find their bases before being ready for a parade. This should take a week or so.

I just received a package from David Young, a talented painter from the UK that is helping me get ahead of the 10mm pile. He painted 898 infantry for me - French and British, all Redline figures. This helps finish off Reille's Corps, as well as making a dent in the British Divisions. The list includes

• Prince Jerome's  Division 
• 6 French Line Battalions



Some French Light troops

• 6 French Light Battalions
• Maintland and Byng's Guards Brigades
• 4 British Guard Battalions
• Halkett's Brigade
• 4 British Line Battalions
• Du Plat's Brigade
• 3 KGL Battalions

His style matches really well with my own, nice clean blocking of colours, black wash, and much finer lines than me. A really nice job. Great to deal with and good value. Anyone interested in commissioning him contact me and I will pass on his email. I'll do some closeups when they are based.

Slowly getting organised and based - 60% stuck on the bases

All on bases

Great detail from David Young

Now to get them flocked up ...

10mm display case

I found a new case on eBay for storing and displaying 10mm armies - an acrylic jewellery display box.

It has 5 draws 31 x 21 x 3cm in size and is 20.5cm high. Each drawer will fit in 22 x 36 figure infantry battalions, 10 x 24 figure cavalry regiments or 72 guns. It should fit whole 10mm Corps in the box.

The only drawback is the magnetic bases don't obviously work with them. But the box is perfect for storing and viewing the armies when not on the table. 

Damaged Artillery Markers

I had some spare Old Glory French Artillery that had been painted before. After stripping the paint off them using Simple Green, I took to them with some small cutters. Broken wheels and chassies gave a destroyed look, although I am not sure how you would destroy artillery on the battlefield. Maybe with other artillery?

The artillery was primed with olive green undercoat, barrels bronzed and fittings painted black. I then used the black magic wash on the guns and let some drip onto the ground for a more blackened look.

I based them on the same bases as the normal artillery, added some ballast and flock. 7 done in an hour. The glue is still drying in the picture so you may see some white blobs. These will disappear tomorrow.

Forest Fillers

The wood here is 180 x 65cm, easily big enough

To help fill in the giant Bossu woods I have made some small scenic bases. These will go in between the trees to give a "filled in" look but still allowing troop movement. The forest needs to be 200 cm long and 50 cm wide to be consistent with the 10mm ground scale for Republic to Empire.

The scenic fillers were based on random pieces of 3mm MDF that had the corners rounded and edges bevelled. Rocks were hot glued on, before pre-coloured ballast was added. Then flock and bushes were finally added. No painting needed, which speeds things up. Twenty were done in about an hour and a half - most of the time is waiting for the glue to dry.

They fit in really well with the other trees I made. There are also a bunch of 50 little spruce trees I also finished this afternoon. The Bossu Wood is now complete.

Bases with rocks hot glued on

Coloured ballast and small rocks glued on

Scenic bases breaking up the forest

1/2nd and 2/2nd Nassau Regiments moving into position

Major General Perponcher leading the 7th Belgian Line into position

Bossu Wood

The Bossu Wood was an important feature of the Quatre Bras battlefield. It was approximately 2000 yards long and around 500 yards wide running south west from the crossroads at Quatre Bras. Made up mostly of Beech trees with a few Oak trees here and there. There were open patches, thick parts and paths going through it. Some of it was even described as park like. Unfortunately the wood no longer stands today.

Four battalions of Nassauers started the battle there and desperately fought to hold it throughout the day. Possession of the wood changed hands a number of times between the French and Allied foces, as reinforcements from both sides poured into the fray.

In the rules I am using - Republic to Empire, 1mm = 1 yard for the ground scale so the wood is approximately 200 x 50cm, which is a pretty dominant part of the table. And needs a lot of trees to do justice to it.

Trees bent up, bases cut and clump foliage reeady

When I heard that the Woodlands Scenic's factory had caught fire, I though I'd better buy some of their excellent trees before supply dired up. Luckily the damage was not too bad to stop long term production. So I ended up with a packet of 114 deciduous small trees 2 - 5 cm, and some clump foliage.

I cut up some 3mm MDF in a variety of shapes and bevelled the edges. The trees were easy to clean up and bend into shape. I hot glued the trees on the base before covering the bases in PVA glue and using the pre-coloured ballast and some rocks for the ground. I then airbrushed the trunks various shades of brown and grey. The flock was applied in patched and then the trees covered in Hobby Tac glue from Woodland Scenics and let to dry a little. Hobby tac is strange stuff. I don't think it ever dries, it is always tacky. The trees armatures were put into a container of clump foliage and then tidied up.

I haven't spread them out on the table yet, but I think they are enough there for maybe a third of the wood. Enough to start with anyway. I had a few little trees left over and made a couple of orchards. It's great value from one packet of armatures.

Based with pre-coloured ballast and little rocks

Trunks airbrushed

Flock added

Clump foliage arranged